IT Services spending increased in 2010, says Gartner

Worldwide end-user spending on IT services increased by 3.1% during 2010, as confidence returned in the IT sector following the recession.

Global service revenue totalled $793 billion (£480 billion) last year, an increase from 2009 revenue of $769 billion, according to research conducted by Gartner.

Software support established the highest growth in 2010 at 6.6%, weaker performances came from hardware support, which grew by about 1% less than expected.

IBM remained as theIT services market leader, increasing revenues by 2.6% in generating $56.4 billion.

HP came in second place with growth of 0.3%, ahead of Fujitsu (3.5% growth), Accenture (6.1 %) and CSC (0.6%).

With the competitive nature of the worldwide IT services market, figures show no single vendor achieved more than 7% market share.

"There is little doubt that the effects of the global recession of 2008 and 2009 are still very much being felt," commented Kathryn Hale, research vice president at Gartner.

However, she said that the market for IT services bounced back in 2010 following a 5.1% revenue decline in 2009.

"Although global sourcing makes the location of a provider's headquarters increasingly less relevant, we found that India-based vendors continue to grow above the market average and, therefore, continue to gain market share," said Dean Blackmore, senior research analyst at Gartner.

"In a market that grew 3.1% in 2010, India-based vendors collectively grew 18.9%, increasing their market share from 4.8% in 2009 to 5.5% in 2010."

This year, Forrester Research estimated combined IT spending of more than £1 trillion during 2011, as businesses continue to make infrastructure investments.